Fate of a Fairytale
by Sykic
Summary: Beneath the dirt and dust lied an angel waiting for her freedom. Under the cloak of royalty lied a boy who considered himself nothing more than ordinary. But can he be the savior for her? IIRoxasXNaminéII
1. Chapter 1

**((_Fate of a Fairytale_))**  
**---  
**_Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or Hikari._  
_---_  
**((_Chapter One_))**

In the town of Fatum, the streets were filled with the strangest of diversities. The town where beggars and common people walked on the same ground as the rich and elite. Although one area was reserved for the mansions and flashy buildings, while the rest of the town was for the middle to lower classes. Old, run-down buildings and homes were common there.

One of the largest mansions belonged to the Unmei family. Containing over fifty rooms with four stories and its garden with hundreds of varieties of greenery, it was considered one of the most extravagant dwellings in the entire town. Near the top of the mansion was a tiny, triangular-shaped attic with cobwebs and dust resting within its corners. In the center of the 'room' was a single cot where a flaxen-haired girl slept every night.

Before the sun was able to meet the horizon, the girl would awake to prepare for the day's chores. She wore a pale, worn-out blue dress that stretched to the middle of her thighs with sleeves that reached just above her elbows. She would tie a navy colored piece of cloth below her chest into a bow behind her. She wore a white ragged bandana, pulled back enough so that her bangs were visible. Her hair was unevenly cut, for she cut it herself, with most of the longer tufts of hair resting on her shoulder.

She opened her window slightly enough to let the morning breeze roll into the room. She looked at her reflection. She had _never_ liked the way she looked. She thought her nose was too skinny, her face was too long, her skin was too pale, dirt was always smeared across her cheeks, and the list went on and on. She sighed and slipped on a pair of flat, white shoes and lit a small lantern, which she took with her before exiting the attic.

The girl tiptoed down a series of long spiraling staircases with the lantern dimly guiding her way. She was careful not to awaken the other women in the house as she continued to tiptoe down the stairs. Eventually she reached the ballroom in the first floor and headed towards the kitchen.

She set the lantern down on the cold marble counter and switched the lights on in this room. She filled a kettle with water and placed it over the stove. While waiting for the kettle, she set up three trays with three smaller kettles and silver cups with bags of tea resting within them. She unwrapped a loaf of bread from a plastic bag and began slicing pieces off. She placed three pieces on each plate and set them on the trays with small scrapings of butter on the top of each piece of bread.

The kettle began to scream and the girl quickly took it off of the stove. She poured the water into each of the smaller kettles and the dye of the tea bags quickly began to mix into the water.

The sunrise's orange glow began to show through the horizon by the time the kettles were filled with enough of the tea's flavoring. She poured the ready tea in the cups began putting sugar into them. The first cup had the least sugar, while the second had a bit more, and the last had the most sugar in it. Half of the sun was visible by the time she began to climb the flight of stairs again, one tray in each hand while the third balanced on the middle of the first two.

After about two stories worth of stairs, she walked through a hallway and stopped at the first door. She pushed it open gently using her foot and set the trays down on a dresser. She opened up the curtains halfway and grabbed a tray and placed it so it stood above the person's lap on the bed.

"Good morning, Stepmother. It's time for your breakfast." The girl greeted.

The lump on the bed suddenly came to life and sat up. She scratched her short blonde hair and rubbed her emerald eyes. She took a sip of the tea. "Eek, Naminé could you have least used better water? It tastes like this came from a puddle in a muddy street!"

"I'm sorry, Stepmother. I'll do better tomorrow."

"You do that. Now get back to work!" The stepmother commanded.

"Yes, ma'am." Naminé grabbed the two trays and left the room. She climbed another story's worth of stairs and walked into another hallway. She entered another dark room and set one tray down. She barely opened the curtains, enough it barely light the room up and set the tray on the bed.

"Wake up, Kairi. It's breakfast time." The young girl stirred a bit, but sat up reluctantly. She yawned and closed her eyes again.

"Ughh…It's too early, Naminé!"

"I'm sorry Kairi, but it's time to eat."

"Fine, whatever. Just leave me to my peace…"

"Yes, ma'am." Naminé picked up the last tray and headed for the room across the hall. When she entered it, she opened the curtains fully and laid the tray on the bed. The youngest child, who was about nine years old, immediately woke up without a wake up call.

"Hi Naminé!"

"Hi Olette! I already set up your breakfast. I even put a good amount of sugar in your tea this morning!"

"Gee thanks, Naminé!" Funny how the only person who thanked Naminé among the three women was a nine-year old.

"Well, I got to be getting to my other chores to do. I hope you enjoy your breakfast!"

"'Kay! See you later!" Naminé left the room and began to climb down the stairs. By the time she past by the second story, her stepmother was already dressed in a casual daydress.

"Naminé, you must scrub the floors spotless today and clean out all the rooms. The gardeners will take care of cleaning the outside areas. We must get ready for tomorrow."

"Umm...may I ask what's happening tomorrow?" The stepmother rolled her eyes.

"Ignorant girl. I've been planning tomorrow for weeks now! Well if you must know, one of the elite families from the town of Lumen is searching for a bride for their son. They are coming here tomorrow to see if my own Kairi should fit their standards and shall be staying for a couple of days in two of our guest rooms. So I will need you to really clean up those two rooms in the east wing."

_Huh?! Kairi, a bride at seventeen?! Whoaaa— _In Fatum, it was considered inappropriate to marry before reaching the age of at least twenty. The stepmother began to ascend the stairs while Naminé still stood there, lost in her thoughts.

"Ahh yes and Naminé?" She quickly snapped out of her trance and looked up to her stepmother.

"Yes?"

"I will need you to wash Kairi's new dresses and let them dry before tomorrow morning. They need to be perfect to impress those Hikari's. They're lying in my closet, so you can go in my room to get them. Understood?"

"Yes, ma'am." Naminé decided on doing that chore first, since she wanted to take a peek on Kairi's new dresses. She entered the mother's room and slid open the closet door. The dresses sat neatly in a stack on top a couple boxes. There were three of them: one was pink, the second was lavender, and the last one was white.

The pink dress was a sort of halter dress that would drag slightly on the floor if Kairi were to wear it and the area from the chest to the waist was replaced with a white shiny fabric. The lavender dress was strapless and it a dress which really hugged someone's curves, but it was loose and frilly from the waist down.

But the white one was the best of them all. It had the same halter-style as the pink dress, but crystals adorn all of its hemlines and they created a flowery design throughout several areas of the dress. Silver glitter was lightly scattered around the dress to give off more of a shine. Naminé smiled as she fingered some of the crystals as they glittered and sparkled.

Naminé brought the dresses outside to where the washtub was. On the way, she brought along the dirty laundry so they could get washed too. Oddly the tub was already filled with clean water. "Huh?" She mumbled.

"I knew that woman was gonna make you do a LOT laundry work!" The gardener walked up to Naminé. "So I got some water for you from the well."

"Thanks Marluxia." Naminé set the clothes down on the grass and began to soak some of the other clothes in the pile.

"Gosh darling, you always work like a dog everyday for more harsh treatment from that 'family.' You're seventeen, my dear! You shouldn't be working _this_ hard at this age! You don't even get paid! And that's NOT even you're REAL family!" Marluxia always was concerned about Naminé's work ever since she first came to live in the mansion.

"At least I am sheltered and fed. And that is good enough for me…" She paused for a moment. "…I guess." She began scrub the clothes on the washboard.

"I don't see how you can always keep your head up like that…" He shook his head. "Well I'm sorry, dear, but I must get back to work on the garden for everything has to be 'perfect.'"

"Okay, see you later!" Marluxia left and entered the garden in the front of the house.

Naminé hung some of the wet clothing on the clothesline and clipped them down with a couple of pegs and then started with another batch of clothes. It was like this until all of the casual clothes were washed along with the dresses too. She was especially careful with the white one, avoiding scrubbing the crystals too hard so they wouldn't be scratched or even removed.

In the end, the washtub was filled with loose glitter and her fingers were as pruny as a raisin. She placed the tub near a rose bush in the back for Marluxia and the other gardeners recycled the old water for some of the plants.

"I guess I should get started on the floors." She filled a couple of buckets with water from the well and filled one with soap. She decided to start on the first floor and work her way up. Naminé had to kneel down and bend all the way down just to scrub the floors, sure her back ached for hours after scrubbing, but she would nonetheless continue cleaning.

She dipped her scrub-brush and began brushing the floor in circular motions with her hand. She did this over and over, switching hands now and then when one would get cramped up.

After hours at work with the floors, Naminé decided to take a break and walked out to the garden. Outside the gardeners were still busy at work. Aerith was picking some of the roses to use as decorations for the mansion, Demyx was watering several of the plants, and Marluxia was straightening out the hedges with a giant pink scythe-type weapon.

Naminé sat one of the stone benches and Marluxia and Aerith automatically walked up to her.

"Hello Naminé, is something the matter? It seems like something's on your mind..." Aerith said. Naminé thought for a second, but then spoke.

"Well, do you guys know anything about this family that's coming tomorrow?" Naminé replied.

"All I know is that their last name is Hikari!" Demyx yelled over from another side of the garden.

"I hear they're just a your ordinary rich, political family from Lumen. And obviously they plan on having their son marry Miss Kairi." Marluxia added. "Why do you ask, dear?"

"Just wondering and all..."

"I guess we'll find out more about them over the next few days..." Aerith said and the rest of the group nodded.

"But what about Kairi marrying before she's twenty? That's like going against all of our morals!" Naminé asked.

"There are several exceptions considering to that rule, especially how one of the to be spouses is from a different region with different morals." Aerith replied.

"Well, I dunno! Just...all of this is just confusing me."

After a couple more minutes of talking, the workers resumed back to their jobs, and Naminé returning back to scrubbing the floors.

By the time Naminé finished, it was evening (The stepmother had hired a chef to cook for them for tomorrow, but he came a day early and gave Naminé meals while she worked) and her back was aching for some comfort. But she smiled, accomplished by her work, for the floors were really _spotless._

But she still wasn't done yet, she still had to dust and clean up all the rooms. She sighed, _Well I can do both at the same time I guess. _She went throughout the mansion with a feather duster in hand, lightly brushing almost everything in the house. Of course she didn't clean ALL the rooms in the house…that would of taken centuries. She only cleaned the rooms where the family used most often.

Naminé kept working until she had to use her small lantern to get around the house. She never liked the mansion at night, for the eerie dark hallways and rooms seemed just plain scary.

It was around midnight by the time Naminé had finished and with a satisfied sigh, she trudged up to her 'room' and leaned against her window sill. She softly sang into the night,

_"Donna toki datte, _  
_tatta hitori de,  
Unmei wasurete, _  
_ikite kita no ni..."_

_I've always lived alone. Destiny forgotton._

When Naminé awoke the next day with the heat of the sun burning her face, she sat up and realized it was about mid-morning. "WHAT! I overslept?!" She immediately got up and straightened out her dress. To her surprise there was a plate near her door with some bread and tea. _What the? Oh yeah that's right, the chef's here…_

She quickly ate the bread and gulped down the tea and headed down the stairs. By the time, she reached the third-floor mark her stepmother stopped her.

"About time you've awaken and you also forgot to bring those clothes in from yesterday! They would have been stolen by now if Aerith hadn't brought them in yesterday! I would punish you but right NOW, but I'm more preoccupied with matters other than your disobedience! Now I need you to help Kairi with her dress…be sure that she wears the pink one."

"I'm sorry, Stepmother. And I'll get straight to work!" She quickly rushed to Kairi's room and saw she was sitting on the bed, impatiently waiting.

"About time you showed up!" _Wow, where have I heard that before… _"Now help me get my dress on! It seems almost impossible with all those things Mom makes me wear!"

Kairi stripped down behind a clothing screen to only a tank top and shorts and Naminé helped tie on a corset on her. Kairi wasn't fat at all, but her mother still ordered her to wear one. Naminé slipped a hoop skirt around her waist and placed the pink dress over it. The hoop made the dress really pop out and made it more noticeable. Personally Naminé thought it looked better without that contraption.

Next Naminé helped Kairi with her hair, bringing it up to a bun with Kairi sat in front of a mirror.

"So Kairi—it doesn't bother you at all that you might be arranged to marry some guy you've never met before?"

"Well I would rather much choose my own husband, but Mom'd be furious if I said that to her. I guess I just have to accept it…and hope we get along eventually." Naminé saw in the mirror that Kairi's eyes hinted that she was depressed.

"But why arranged? Can't that family just wait for their son to choose someone to marry on his own?" Kairi sighed at all of her questions.

"It's tradition for sons from Lumen to get married when they turn eighteen. It proves they are worthy enough for a wife and it basically shows royalty. Those who cannot find wives are considered outcasts and are shunned from society."

"How do you know all of this?"

"Mom told me…"

"But—"

"Are you done yet? I bet the Hikari's are going to come any second now." Naminé stuck a clip in to secure the bun. Kairi's bangs were still loose and covered her forehead, but the rest of her hair was pulled up and Naminé let a few strands of hair casually fall to the back of her neck.

"Here, this will help." Naminé put in a clip with a plastic flower similar to a Lily magnolia in her hair just before the bun.

"Oh I really hope this guy will like me…" Kairi sighed as she stared at her reflection in the mirror. Finally she stood up. "Well I guess I should go now."

"Good luck, Kairi!" Kairi paused at the door. She shook her head and then left.

Naminé walked outside and leaned against the railings and watched Kairi gracefully descend the steps. She saw from above that her stepmother paced about in the ballroom, apparently nervous and impatient.

"OLETTE!" She yelled. "OLETTE, COME DOWN HERE ALREADY! IT'S ALMOST TIME!"

Naminé heard a door open; then slam shut. "COMING MOM!" Then she saw Olette scurry down the steps in a pinkish-orange frilly dress with her hair tied up messily in a ponytail.

There were a couple of newly hired butlers in the ballroom, also awaiting for this family to arrive. The stepmother immediately began to redo Olette's messy hair while Kairi just stared at the floor, lost in a trance.

Naminé walked down the stairs, quiet enough so that her stepmother wouldn't notice her, and casually walked into the kitchen.

"What are YOU doing here?!" The stepmother asked angrily.

"I'm sorry, Stepmother, but I am simply...helping the chef with preparing the foods for this lunch. You see, we DO need everything _perfect_ for this family!" She glared at her with a suspicious face, while Naminé just smiled sweetly.

"I suppose you're right...Well, off you go! Make sure every last detail is made into perfection! And don't even you DARE to show your face to the Hikari's. I can't have them know that I foster this filthy girl!" _Foster,_ _right..._

"Yes, Stepmother." Naminé walked off into the kitchen, but then peeked from behind the kitchen wall. She had a perfect view of the ballroom and as well everyone inside of it. _Well, you can't blame me for being just a little curious about this family!_

Suddenly a loud banging coming from a doorknocker echoed throughout the room. "They're here!" Kairi gasped.

_**((Chapter One))**_

_Long _Author's Note: Not sure what made me want to do a short story inspired by a couple of Disney movies...Wait-one movie is Disney (which is apparently Cinderella) and the other movie isn't Disney, but _which movie_ exactly? Well, if I told you then that'll give out the some of the plot, right? And that's no fun for me!

If you read my profile earlier, then you know that I don't plan on making this story too long...I would of made it into a oneshot, but I cannot fit all of the plot into one story chapter thingy (Well maybe I can but I'm not gonna try) and I'd be lucky if this story reaches five chapters.

Naminé's stepmother wasn't even being mean in this chapter just if you thought she was a little too 'nice' for an evil stepmother...Heh, I bet you can easily guess who she is (I won't have any OCs in this story) And I don't plan to have the stepsisters totally evil, but like kinda annoying in a bratty way. Marluxia isn't some child molestor, just in case if that popped into your mind. He's just really overprotective of Naminé because he watched over her ever since she first came to the mansion. Oh yeah and I can totally imagine him slicing down a choppy hedge into perfection with his scythe!

I tried to make the dresses that Kairi has more modern, but have an old-fashioned sense to it. (the hoopskirt/corset) I would of made the dresses old-fashioned too so I wouldn't be jumping around time periods too much in this story, but c'mon I couldn't imagine Kairi with gigantic, puffy sleeves...

And I tried to do I rough translation of that small part from Hikari that Naminé sang (I'm not Japanese at all) So if you noticed I made a mistake with that translation, please tell so I can change it. Thanks!

By the way, if you don't know what a lily magnolia is then think of that flower clip that Mulan has in the beginning of the movie... (I'm gonna mix together little tid-bits from other Disney classics and if you notice them then I'll be happy)

Reviews are great.


	2. Chapter 2

**((**_**Fate of a Fairytale**_**))**  
**--  
**_Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts._  
_--_  
**((**_**Chapter One**_**))**

Naminé hid behind the kitchen wall as she watched one of the butlers open the door. He replied, "Good morning, please do come inside." The butler led a few people into the room and wow, did they look fancy. There was a woman in a white, feathery gown and a man with a golden suit with a vermilion and gold-lined cape.

"Dear Unmei family—" The man bowed. "I am Tidus Hikari and this is my wife, Yuna Hikari. We have traveled far from the town of Lumen so I may be able to present my son to you, Roxas Hikari." Tidus moved aside to reveal his son, who stepped forward.

The boy had golden blonde hair with several spikes that swayed to his right and a pair of piercing cobalt eyes. He wore a silver short-sleeved jacket with a dark gray shirt underneath and baggy khaki pants. He bowed to the women in front of him, who curtsied back. But to Naminé, there was something about him that set him apart from his family. He seemed like he just didn't fit into the picture of royalty for some reason.

"And I, Larxene Unmei, present to you my daughter, Kairi Unmei." The stepmother replied and Kairi stepped up and curtsied.

Tidus and Yuna began to examine Kairi, circling her around a couple of times while Kairi just stood still nervously. _Apparently they are only concentrating on the looks… Now I see these people are just your typical, shallow people… _

While they asked Kairi several questions, Roxas looked around the ballroom, obviously bored. It was then he noticed one azure eye peeking from behind a wall to his left.

His eyes met with hers for a brief second before Naminé gasped and hid completely behind the wall. She bit her lip and hoped he hadn't seen her. _Wait…Why do I even care? Oh yeah, she'd kill me, _Naminé thought.She heard light footsteps coming closer to where she was hiding and pleaded for it not to be that boy.

Yuna lifted Kairi's chin slightly and examined her face. Kairi forced a small smile onto her lips and Yuna smiled back. The parents exchanged small nods and quick whispers with each other.

"Roxas!" Yuna called after a couple minutes.

"Umm…yeah?" The footsteps stopped.

Naminé peeked behind the wall again and saw the blonde-haired boy, with his back turned away from her, only a few feet from where she was standing. _That was almost too close! _Roxas walked over to where everyone was and stared at his parents questioningly.

Yuna smiled to Larxene and said, "I do believe we have found the perfect bride for our son!" That was one of the first times Naminé had ever seen her stepmother smile. "In three days we shall host a ball here in Fatum to announce our son's marriage!"

Among all of the happiness in the room, there were no smiles on the future bride and groom.

**_--_**

It was tradition for the wealthier families to hold a ball for the announcement of the marriage and another celebration for the marriage, but it was agreed by parents that the Hikari family would stay at the Unmei household until the wedding, which date was still unknown.

The two families sat together around the huge polished, wooden table in the grand dining room. Aerith's roses decorated the tables along with the sparkling wine glasses and gleaming silverware. Butlers soon came into the roon with dishes filled with food that looked almost too beautiful to eat.

"Thank you again for your hospitality towards us, Lady Unmei," Yuna politely said as the most butlers left the room.

"Pleeease—call me Larxene," Naminé, who was peering behind the entrance of the dining room, nearly gagged. Sure, she was spying on them, but Naminé wanted to know more about this Hikari family.

Yuna simply smiled and began to eat her meal. Everyone was eating his or her meals, that is, except the future weds. Kairi poked at her food and looked extremely pale. Roxas ate a bit of the food, but Naminé could have sworn that she saw him spit it out.

The adults continued to chat with one another throughout dinner and Roxas began to look around the room, obviously bored out of his mind. It was then he saw Naminé observant eyes watching him. She quickly hid and tried to listen to the conversation.

_Is that guy stalking me?! What the—_, Roxas thought. "Uh…can I be excused? Okay thanks." He quickly got up and left the table, leaving the five people bewildered.

Naminé's eyes shot open and quietly began to run for her life.

She definitely was not a fast runner as she tried to sprint down the illuminated hall. _I need to hide. I need to hide! _She made and sharp turn (while almost falling over) and hid in the behind a small nook in the wall, currently occupied by a huge plant.

She heard quick footsteps coming towards her location and prayed he couldn't see her. Then the sounds abruptly stopped. Naminé shoved some of the large leaves out of her face only to see khaki pants in front of her.

"Hello? Anyone here?" He decided to just give up because if he wandered off too much, he'd lose his way.

**_--_**

Roxas sighed unhappily as he lied sprawled on the king-sized bed. The huge room and all the flashy, expensive furniture and decors did not appeal to him at all. A simple, normal bed with pillows would be enough to keep him happy, but nope. His parents had to be one of the richest people in Lumen and he had to be cursed with all of this.

He got up and opened the doors to the balcony. He leaned against the stone railings laced with ivy and stared out into the night sky. He closed his eyes and began humming a small tune to himself.

Naminé was on the roof ledge just outside of the attic and swung her feet that dangled off of the roof's edge. She absolutely loved gazing into the stars in during the cool nights, especially after a hard day's work. Plus, if Larxene wanted any last minutes chores for her, she wouldn't be able to find Naminé up here. But she couldn't get her thoughts off of the boy she had seen earlier. She continued admiring the stars before being interrupted by a faint sound.

_What is that? Humming?_

She peeked below and saw the glow of the bedroom light reflecting softly against Roxas's back as he remained in his own world. Naminé listened quietly to the tune he was humming.

She dreamily sighed inwardly and closed her eyes as she continued to listen to him. She was so distracted she did not notice that she had placed her hand on a loose tile, which slid off the roof and fell with a loud crack onto Roxas's balcony. His head suddenly twirled around and Naminé gasped.

"Who's there?!" Roxas called out. He had seen a pair of feet above him, but they quickly hid behind the roof. "Hey!"

_That stalker's so going down_, Roxas thought as he ran through the bedroom and through the empty corridors of the mansion until he found the staircase and began climbing up. On the fourth floor, he arrived at a dimly-lit corridor with several doors surrounding him.

_Okay, I'd have to be insane if I looked through all of these rooms! Besides what if…I run into that old hag of a mother's bedroom! _Roxas shivered at the thought of his fiancée's mother. His future mother-in-law.

He continued walking in the hall, unsure of what to do next. But he noticed a door hidden in a niche at the far end of the corridor. What exactly caught his eye was how this door was not painted white like all of the other doors, but was a rotten wood color and looked like it was right about to fall off. A small, dim lantern hung next to door, giving slight illumination in the otherwise almost pitch-black area. The marble floor also was cracked away there, leaving the cement flooring exposed.

Roxas walked towards it and opened the ancient door to reveal a small, dilapidated staircase that spiraled behind a wall. He climbed each step slowly, mesmerized by a light that grew more visible as he ascended higher.

When the flight ended, he gaped at the small attic. His cobalt eyes scanned the room until they rested on frightened azure eyes huddled in the corner. He unconsciously blushed when he realized that this frail girl was his stalker.

"O-Oh I-I'm really sorry on walking in like that!" Naminé didn't respond, but just closed her eyes as her body continued to shudder in fear. "H-Hey, I'm not gonna hurt you or anything…" He walked up to her and kneeled down. "My name's Roxas."

"Na-miné." She said quietly, opening her eyes.

"Huh?"

"My name. My name is Naminé." She couldn't look in his eyes. "I-I'm a maid here for the Unmei family."

"And is this your room?" Roxas stood, gesturing to the lone cot in the dirty, tiny attic. Naminé also stood and decided to stand up towards her rude intruder.

"Excuse me, Sir Hikari, but shouldn't you be sleeping now?" She noted that she sounded extremely bratty. He shot her a glare. "I mean _you do_have a long day full of marriage plans with the Unmei family tomorrow."

He had an angry look on his look before storming off.

_Anger issues, _Naminé thought as she simply shrugged off the small intrusion and sprawled onto her cot.

**_--_**

Naminé woke up at about 5AM the next day. _I really have nothing to do…Amazing. My only job is to stay away from the Hikari family. Man, life's gonna be sweet. _Just before she could put her hands behind her head, Larxene slammed open the door and bits of ceiling fell in front of her.

"Eww, clean that up." She said viciously. She also had a small box in her other arm. "Instead of slacking off for the entire day, I've got a job for you."

_Oh da—_

"Deliver these invitations to the people addressed to them in the front of the envelopes. Don't you dare give one to anyone else or lose a single one. I can't have you screwing over this event." She dropped the box on Naminé's lap.

_This must weigh almost 100 pounds! _Naminé thought. "But this will take me the whole day. Can't you have some messengers send these?"

"Why send them while I have my own messenger here for free? Besides you have nothing to do for the day and the more you stay away from the Hikari's, the better."

"B-but—" Before she could even finish her sentence, Larxene was already heading back downstairs. Naminé sighed and opened the box. She gawked at all of the invitations crammed into the small box and nearly fainted thinking about herself traveling all over Fatum just to deliver these stupid little letters.

Naminé put on her white dress that was almost identical to her blue one, but she used this one when she had to travel outdoors. She tied on a light blue colored ribbon under her chest and slipped on her shoes. She made and ate a small meal from the kitchen and began navigating her way through the house until she reached the backdoor leading towards the garden.

"Hey! Hey! Wait there!" A hushed voice tried to call out. Naminé turned around and saw Roxas running towards her.

"Good morning, Sir Hikari." Naminé said politely. "I didn't expect you to be up this ear—"

"Shhhh! Not so loud!" She looked at him awkwardly. "Where you going?"

"Me? I am going to deliver these." She gestured to the box she held.

"Take me with you."

"Excuse me?" Naminé asked, thinking he was delusional.

"Let me go with you. I am NOT staying in this horrible mansion doing nothing but planning my stupid wedding for the whole entire day with my parents and that old hag! Now let's go!"

"B-but—"

"Shh—let's go!" He gently took her arm and led her out the door.

**_--_**

"Isn't that the rich boy with Naminé? Why are they going out together?" Demyx asked, while watching Roxas trying to escape stealthily with Naminé following clumsily.

"Maybe they're going on a date." Marluxia said, with a rose in hand.

"Should we tell the wicked witch?"

"No, just let them have their fun for today." Aerith replied with a small smile.

**_--_**

When the two teens were away from the mansion's sight, Roxas let go of Naminé's arm and began to walk at a normal pace. "Whew, thanks for getting me out of there."

"Umm…no problem." She said softly. It was quiet between the two for a while as they continued down the cobblestone road.

"Naminé, right?" She simply nodded. "What was it you had to do again?"

"Deliver your announcement invitations."

"Oh…" Silence again. "I guess I'll help you do that."

"Sir Hikari—"

"Roxas."

"What?"

"The name. Call me Roxas."

"Well—umm…Roxas, you do not have to help me, you may go and do as you please while I do my errands."

"Don't worry about it. Besides I'd get lost here quickly without you and I'm certainly not going back to that mansion anytime soon."

"B-but—"

"Let's go!" He took her arm again and started walking faster, but abruptly stopped. "So uhh…where are we going?" Naminé laughed shyly and led the way.

**_--_**

In most of the mansions and houses they visited, either butlers or maids greeted them and accepted the invitation. Naminé noticed that all of the invites were addressed only to high-class families. Typical.

About four hours of walking all over Fatum, they had succeeded in making a small dent in the box, but there was still a lot more to go. The most time-consuming thing was that they had to walk instead of taking a carriage, which Roxas was frequently complaining about.

"Hey Naminé?"

"Yes?"

"I'm kind of hungry." She blushed from embarrassment.

"I'm so sorry!" She quickly bowed her head. "I've been making you do all of my work and I forgot all about you! I'm truly sorry, it'll never happen ag—"

"H-hey!" She looked up. "Okay, never do that again."

"I-I'm sorry. I guess it's just a habit," He gave her a dubious look. "Umm…would you mind if we just go to the marketplace? I'm a little short on money and I think an invitation is addressed to someone I know there."

"Sure, of course! Sorry I'm making you pay for the meal, I have no money on me right now. I promise I'll make this up to you."

"O-Oh, you don't—"

"C'mon let's go," Naminé led him out of the wealthy neighborhood and into a middle-class marketplace. A few the shops and stalls were setting up for it was still early in the day, while others already had their goods and merchandise on display. Roxas personally enjoyed the small bustling crowds shopping for their own various needs.

Naminé led him into a bakery, but the aroma of freshly baked bread hovered in the air.

"Hey Naminé, good to see you today," The baker greeted her as he came from the back room. "Who's your friend?" Roxas stared at the different breads on display while pretending not to listen to their conversation.

"Hey Riku, his name's Roxas Hikari."

"H-H-Hikari?! Naminé, you know—"

"Yeah, yeah, filthy rich. But how did you know about them? They're from Lumen."

"Lumen or not, it doesn't matter. When you got money, people know it. If you put the top ten richest families in the world, the Hikari's would be probably the seventh or eighth. Why are you with—"

"So Riku! I'll have one of your best loaves of bread, please!" Naminé happily interrupted while Roxas snickered to himself.

"Riiight—" Riku got one of the freshest loaves and put it in a bag for her. She exchanged the bag of bread and she offered him a small coin that she kept under the ribbon on her dress.

"No, no, it's on the house. You go have fun, Naminé."

"Really? Thanks, oh and—" She reached into the box and gave an invitation to Riku. "See you later!"

The two were now walking down the small dirt streets of the marketplace. "Bread is alright with you, right?"

"Yup," He and Naminé ripped pieces from the loaf and began eating it. "Hey, this is pretty good."

"Yeah, Riku's a really good baker. He's actually fairly rich because of his business, that's the reason why he got an invitation," The two finished the bread within minutes. "Satisfied?" She asked.

"Yup."

"Okay, I guess we'll continue delivering these," Roxas's happy expression quickly disappeared.

"Are you serious? C'mon, let's take a carriage or cart or something! Anything's better than walking and plus it'll take us half the time to finish giving them out with a cart," He complained.

"I told you, I'm not allowed to take the Unmei's carriage. I don't carry those privileges."

"Well—hey that man over there has a cart, maybe he'll lend it to us," He pointed over to a man near the outskirts of the marketplace, with his horse-drawn cart beside him.

"I dunno, that guy's really mean and stingy—"

"I bet I can make him lend it to us. Let me handle this," Roxas walked over to the man, who was dressed in dreary, baggy clothing, while Naminé reluctantly followed. "Excuse me sir, may I borrow that cart from you, we promise to have it back to you in this very spot by sunset." Naminé could easily see through his friendly façade.

"No way! Who do you think ya are?! Get outta my face!" Naminé giggled a bit and Roxas's expression became serious and his voice stern.

"I am Roxas Hikari and I demand that we may be able to lend your cart," The man's face instantaneously softened and then turned into a somewhat frightened expression. He then bowed his head.

"H-Hikari?! S-sorry, sir! I d-didn't recognize you! P-P-Please you m-may take this, feel free to k-keep it!" Naminé gawked that a simple name changed the man's entire attitude. Roxas's face turned back to normal.

"Thank you, sir. But, we'll have it back to you by sunset," Roxas and Naminé climbed onto the seats and Roxas thanked the man once more before taking the reins and whipping them slightly to command to horse to go.

When the horse began to pick up its pace, Naminé began to doubt Roxas's ability to control horses. "R-Roxas, do you know how to drive this thing?!" She began to panic when he nearly missed a person walking on the road. He looked at her and smiled.

"Of course I do, Naminé! Just tell me where to go!" He really seemed to be enjoying this.

"Uhh…over the bridge," She bounced up as they hit a bump. _Geez! Any faster and I would of flew out of the cart!_

"You got it!" Roxas yelled and began laughing as they sped up. She tightly held on to the side of the vehicle when they went over another bump and she bounced up again. _Dear God, please help me. I'm in a cart with a madman!_

_**((Chapter Two))**_

Author's Note: Whew…I am rusty! I need to practice writing some more. And one year later a new chapter comes out. D: I wanted at least one chapter of any of my stories to be out before I go on vacation for a while. So umm…sorry about the long delay, really I am. But I'm just going to see where this goes.

Lots of mistakes, didn't have time to proofread, I'm in an internet cafe right now.

Hehe—you may have had to read the first chapter again if you remember this story a long time ago.

Just in case you were wondering, the difference between a cart and carriage is that a cart is a small vehicle that usually only seats two people, while carriages are those ones that have a driver's seat with additional seats in the back with doors and a roof and whatnot and both are drawn by one or more horses.

And yesss, I made Riku a baker!

Reviews are great.


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